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JAC writes...
Mr. Greg,
Quick question after reading some of your responses (which seem to ba all over the place on this issue)...when recreating a charicter that has a firmly established history in the DCu (as apposed to say Lagoon boy, who existed but didnt even have a real name until now), how MUCH of that history - if any - do you feel "obligated" (for lack of a better word) to include "nods" to that history?
For instance...and if this seems like a spoiler question, im sure you can think of another example that isnt...the Clark/Lois relationship is practically written in DC stone (as it should be!)...basically my question is: are you the kind of writer that respects the CHARACHTER when writing them, only what you petsonally like about them from the past, or do you like "leave your own mark" even if that means totally reimagining them?
Using the Clark/Lois idea as a beromiter, where do you stand? (ie, if you would never change anything THAT iconic, where do you draw the line?
Thank you for your time.
Greg responds...
I have no interest in "leaving my own mark" and every interest in trying to get to the core of each individual character and portraying them with (what I see as my version of the) truth.
The trouble, of course, is that most of these characters have decades of continuity, created and supervised by dozens of individuals that weren't always in perfect synch with each other or - frankly - even with the character.
So, yes, Brandon and Phil and I get to make choices about what we believe is "right" for any given character. Keeping what's essential. Leaving out what may not be, and ditching what we flat-out feel doesn't work. There's no doubt that my personal biases come into play. (NO SUPER-COLD BREATH EVER!) But I try to be as objective as possible (given what a subjective topic we're dealing with here) about what plays to the core of each character.
But events in a pre-established comic book continuity, i.e. "a firlmly established history" are more up for grabs. We're in a different parallel universe, and some things did happen... and some did not. And some things that never happened in comic book continuity DID happen on Earth-16. I'd hope the character's responses to any given event would be on target, whether or not the event happened in DC's (many) pre-existing continuities.
Relationships are even more complicated. I'm not going to guarantee any character exists on Earth-16 that hasn't been seen or mentioned in canon. So how can I guarantee a relationship between two characters, when one might not exist? But to use your example, we've seen in the comics that Lois exists. And of course Superman exists. So then the question is what if any relationship do they have and does it match up with continuity. And the answer is... YES. But what does that mean? Superman and Lois have (since 1938) had all sorts of different relationships at all sorts of different stages, ranging from strangers to marriage. And both have, at times, dated other people. So I would try to be true to BOTH characters, but I'm not going to guarantee where they are in their relationship at this moment in time.